EU General Data Protection Regulation

EU data protection legislation is facing huge changes. Data protection laws are built on fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union which are the core building blocks of the EU’s legal regime. Privacy issues arising from an exponential growth in consumer and mobile technologies, an increasingly connected planet and mass cross border data flows have pushed the EU to entirely rethink its data protection legislation to ensure that these fundamental rights are fully protected in today’s digital economy.

In 2012, the European Commission published a draft regulation (the General Data Protection Regulation, 'GDPR'). Just over four years later, the final text of GDPR was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 27 April 2016. Regulation 2016/679 heralds some of the most stringent data protection laws in the world and shall apply from 25 May 2018.

The current EU Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC) was adopted in 1995. It has been implemented differently by EU Member States into their respective national jurisdictions, resulting in the fragmentation of national data protection laws within the EU. As it is a Regulation, GDPR will come into effect immediately on 25 May 2018 without any need for additional domestic legislation in EU Member States. However, with more than 30 areas where Member States are permitted to legislate (differently) in their domestic laws there will continue to be significant variation in both substantive and procedural data protection laws among the EU’s different Member States.

The clock is now ticking with fines of up to 4% of total worldwide annual turnover (revenue) for failing to comply with the requirements of GDPR. Organisations have a great deal to do between now and 25 May 2018 to be ready for the new regime.

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DLA Piper is a global law firm with lawyers located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, positioning us to help clients with their legal needs around the world.